The present invention relates to equipment carriages that provide for remote mounting of locomotive air brake valve components in a unitized assembly.
Such equipment carriages make it possible to locate most of the air brake valve components remotely from the locomotive cab, while retaining easy access for service and maintenance purposes. A special compartment housing the equipment carriage is generally provided below the locomotive cab floor.
Known equipment carriages of the above type are portable and employ a single, laminated pipe bracket on one face of which is mounted the air brake valve components. Air connections between the various valve components are made through internal passages of this laminated pipe bracket, which is secured to the equipment carriage. The portable equipment carriage is rolled into position on tracks in the equipment carriage compartment. Rollers, on which the equipment carriage rides, are adjustable so that openings in the opposite face of the laminated pipe bracket are aligned with corresponding passages in the mating face of a horizontally-disposed pipe manifold that is permanently fixed in the equipment carriage compartment. This pipe manifold provides a primary pipe bracket having pipe fittings to which the locomotive air lines are permanently connected. In this manner, air is connected to the various air brake valve components. When it is desired to perform maintenance or service on the air brake valve components, the entire portable equipment carriage is simply removed from the equipment carriage compartment without disturbing the locomotive pipe connections at the pipe manifold. A serviceable unit is then installed and the removed unit is returned to a repair facility for servicing, as required. Consequently, the locomotive down time is limited to the time required to remove and install the portable equipment carriage. This represents a considerable cost-savings in terms of the locomotive down time, as compared to performing "on site" service.
In that one face of the laminated pipe bracket serves as the mating face for the primary pipe bracket, only a single face of the laminated pipe bracket is available for mounting the various air brake valve components. Such an arrangement is limiting in terms of the number of valve components that can be accommodated by the equipment carriage, which is in turn limited by the size of the equipment carriage compartment.
Moreover, handling of the portable equipment carriage during installation and removal, as well as during service in the repair facility, is cumbersome due to the weight and bulk of the unit. For this reason, the assistance of a forklift is normally enlisted, which tends to offset any cost-savings capable of being realized.